Well lets first say I really hate the Christmas season. All the logistics that go into getting together with families are really a pain in the ass. Oh well, I do like seeing my family, so whatever. I guess it doesn't matter if I sleep.
Anyways on with my mindless rants. I have been keeping track of the news even if I haven't blogged about it for a couple of weeks. My first bitch...
I hate all this "terrorism preparedness." I personally think "Tornado Preparedness" or "Hurricane Preparedness" or "
Preparedness" is more important. I have participated in a bioterror drill, and I know there have been several others. Why do I hate being "prepared" for a terrorist attack? Mainly because the odds are so low. I don't propose not training on them, but instead I propose you prepare for the disasters that will happen, that is, natural disasters. You can touch on terrorism, but lets make sure we have the basics down. We need to de-emphasize terrorism, and concentrate on disasters that will happen. I haven't heard of a tornado roundtable being held, though we need it. Lets pretend a F-4 tornado tears through downtown Lafayette, IN, what would you do? Those are the questions that need asking.
Now I do know the biggest reason for holding roundtables for terrorism is because of the money and grants available to cities that hold them. This is ALOT of money. It can be spent on response equipment of a general nature that can be used no matter the disaster. This isn't local officials fault, money after all doesn't grow on trees, and equipment isn't free by any means, this is a federal problem, they are the ones handing out the grants. They seem to think terrorism is so important that cities need to focus on preparedness for them instead of a Cat 4 hurricane hitting a city under sea level or a F-3 tornado tearing a path through a trailer park.
My next bitch is about anti-hunting advocates. These people are stupid, they don't know what they are talking about. This article talks about a bear hunt in New Jersey. There are reports of people against the hunts protesting at the weigh stations. People seem to think populations monitor themselves. They don't. I live in Indiana, and here the animal of choice is the whitetail deer. I haven't been able to hunt them again this year, but I have managed to total two cars on em, does that count? We need hunters to reduce herds. Do this math. A single deer will give birth to a single fawn the first year then they will generally give birth to twins in subsequent years. Does live for about ten years in the wild (according to this). They mature after 2 years that leaves 8 years of birthing, which means that single Doe will produce 15 offspring (if not more), and seeing that, save hunters, most deer have no predators, most offspring will survive. During that time span those offspring start having offspring, etc etc. What this leads to is overcrowding which forces deer into urban habitats. It also leads to proliferation of disease such as chronic wasting disease which is similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad cow disease), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans. Basically lets sum up this rant. Its good for us to decrease some animal populations, its also good for the animals. I have seen a possible case of Creutzfeldt-Jacobs disease, I'd rather be shot.
